Quantum interference in artificial band structures

Magnetotransport experiments on two-dimensional electron systems with an at omically precise, one-dimensional potential modulation reveal striking quan tum interference oscillations. Within a semiclassical framework, they are r ecognized either as self-interference along closed orbits, many of them ren dered possible by magnetic breakdown between Fermi contour segments of the artificial band structure, or as interference-enhanced backscattering. The known commensurability oscillations appear as a special case of the latter mechanism.